CA Awards $390 Million in Cap-and-Trade Funding for Transit Capital

This week CalSTA announced $390M in transit capital grants throughout the state, including $40M for L.A. Metro’s rail connection with LAX airport. Image via Metro

This week, the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) announced the recipients of its Transit and Intercity Capital Program (TIRCP) grants. TIRCP distributes state cap-and-trade funding to local transit agencies for projects that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The TIRCP awards total $390 million statewide.

The largest awards include $82M for rail improvements between San Diego and San Luis Obispo, $69M for downtown L.A. Metro subway capacity improvements, and $45M to San Francisco MTA for new light rail vehicles.

Though state cap-and-trade has been criticized by its foes, including petroleum interests, it continues to be a key source of funding for critical livability projects, including these extensive transit capital projects, plus high-speed rail, transit-oriented affordable housing, and more. Governor Jerry Brown is pushing to extend cap-and-trade, and has suggested he may go as far as proposing a statewide initiative to put it to a public vote if he can’t find support within the legislature. But in the meantime, the program is raising revenues, and money is being distributed.

The full list of California TIRCP projects follow after the jump, listed in alphabetic order by agency name. Details follow, and more are available on CalSTA’s statewide project lists.

$9M to Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority for expanded service to Roseville and related rail improvements

$5M to Foothill Transit for improving service on bus line 486 between Pomona and El Monte, including electric buses

$8M to city of Fresno for Bus Rapid Transit

$40M to L.A. County Metro for the LAX light rail station

$69.2M to L.A. County Metro for Union Station track improvements to reduce headways on Red and Purple Lines

$82M to the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo Rail Corridor Agency (with San Diego Association of Governments, North County Transit District, and Orange County Transportation Authority [OCTA]) for service and capacity improvements

$28M to OCTA for streetcar and bus system mobile ticketing

$20M to Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board for Caltrain electrification between San Jose and San Francisco

Foothill Transit will purchase 20 Proterra Catalyst XR battery electric buses, along with two electric charging stations. These will be used to improve service on Line 486 (Pomona Metrolink Station to El Monte Metrolink Station), including increasing frequency from every 30 minutes to every 20 minutes.

Funding goes to the planned 96th Street Station on Metro’s under-construction Crenshaw/LAX light rail line. The planned landmark station will include rail, people-mover, bus, bike, and drop-off facilities.

The project will move L.A. Union Station’s train turnaround from the station platforms to the nearby Division 20 Maintenance Yard. This allows for a peak four-minute wait between trains, instead of the current ten-minute wait. The project will be consistent with proposed future development of an Arts District passenger station (see coverage at Curbed and The Source).

7. Transforming Southern California Rail Travel – San Diego to San Luis Obispo$82,000,000 to the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo Rail Corridor Agency in partnership with the San Diego Association of Governments, North County Transit District, and OCTA

The project will build a 4.15-mile streetcar from Santa Ana to Garden Grove (pending the project’s federal full-funding grant agreement expected by early 2017). In addition, OCTA will roll out mobile ticketing to all bus lines.

The project provides faster and more frequent train service through electrification of the Caltrain corridor between San Jose and San Francisco (pending the project’s federal full-funding grant agreement expected by early 2017), including the purchase of Electric Multiple Unit trainsets.

The project is a nine-mile frequent service rail corridor connecting the University of Redlands and Downtown San Bernardino. Construction is anticipated to start in 2017. Funds will add an additional siding to allow peak-hour Metrolink service to start its trip to Los Angeles on the Redlands Passenger Rail Corridor, rather than requiring a transfer in San Bernardino.

This project extends platforms at five rail stations and procures a new locomotive for longer trains to relieve overcrowding on the Altamont Corridor Express service. Platform extensions are planned for Lathrop, Tracy, Vasco, Livermore and Pleasanton stations.

The OC Streetcar Project, the expected first of its kind in Orange County, was awarded $28 million last week as part of California’s Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program, which is funded by the state’s cap-and-trade program. The California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) administers the TIRCP, which seeks to reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions through […]

The California Transportation Commission began the process of allocating funds from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund at its monthly meeting on Friday. The first official allocations for the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program went to Sacramento, LA’s MetroLink, and San Diego for projects that will allow them to offer better transit service, thus encouraging […]